Boeing's Year of Crises in Review: Crashes, Whistleblowers and a Major Loss to SpaceX

2024 has proven to be a wretched year for Boeing. It lost millions of dollars in its contract with NASA to SpaceX, more than 200 whistleblowers reported it to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and two Boeing 737-800s crashed within a day of each other in Norway and South Korea. Now, experts are scrutinizing the American company's fall from grace.

Boeing's year started with a series of publicized incidents such as a quality control flaw that led the panel of a 737-9 Max to detach during an Alaska Airlines flight.

An investigation later showed it was missing four bolts that were removed during production at a Boeing factory located in Renton, Virginia.

By August, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Boeing's most lucrative client, chose to modify its contract with the plane manufacturer due to schedule concerns and continuity issues.

The decision came after astronauts became stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) after experiencing a series of issues on Boeing's Starliner.

Elon Musk's SpaceX intervened, and as a result, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to bring ISS out of orbit by 2030.

Boeing had to pay a $250 million charge against its earnings to cover cost overruns on its Starliner program, reported Space Policy Online.

Droves of Whistleblowers Call Out Boeing Safety Failures: "Russian Roulette"

Over the last year, the FAA says it received more than 200 reports from whistleblowers citing safety concerns at Boeing.

Since 2017, attorney Rob Turkewitz, who has worked with dozens of Boeing employees in the last ten years, has heard similar stories showcasing Boeing's alleged history of cutting corners.

Boeing has a history of retaliating against whistleblowers who address their safety concerns through the proper channels.

Turkewitz represents John Barnett, a quality manager who worked for 30 years at Boeing who also talked about the company's alleged fast and loose practice when safety's concerned.

Barnett told Turkewitz that managers pressured workers to ignore regulations by the FAA.

Boeing had two high-profile fatal 737 Max crashes: Lion Air in 2018, killing 189 people and Ethiopian Airlines in 2019, killing 157 people. Both crashes were linked to faulty software designed to reduce costs, according to reports.

Sam Mohawk, a quality investigator who worked at Boeing's Renton factory for 13 years, spoke in an interview with CBS News where he alleged that the safety issues continue.

"The whole system was just in shambles," he said of the period between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "It [had] kind of just broken down."

Mohawk outlined Boeing's internal practice of using defective, damaged parts that are supposed to be stored in "parts jail." Instead, he said they're being taken and used on jet planes that advertise having a 30-year lifespan.

"So, there's, in order to get the plane built and out the door in time," Mohawk said to CBS News. "I think unfortunately some of those parts were recycled back onto the airplanes in order to build keep building the airplane and not stop it in production."

Mohawk said Boeing has a "desperation of parts" issue that its currently undergoing due to "problems with our parts suppliers."

Mohawk believes that the faulty parts are bolts and "non-confirming" rudders.

He said he has "thousands of missing parts" that are unaccounted for in his parts jail.

Mohawk described Boeing as playing a game of "Russian roulette" by ignoring safety concerns like incomplete inspections, poor manufacturing and parts mismanagement.

Barnett passed away to a self-inflicted gunshot wound but his mother, Vicki, and brothers, Michael, Robby and Rodney, continue to fight his legal case against Boeing.

Boeing is currently under multiple investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), FAA and the Senate subcommittee on investigations.

By November, Boeing had undergone seven weeks of a strike by a union and cut 17,000 jobs.

Between December 28 and 29, two crashes took place in less than 24 hours in Norway and South Korea involving Boeing 737-800 jets. On the South Korean flight, 179 people were killed. However, everyone on the Norway flight deplaned unharmed.